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Pace of Technology

Sat, 12/09/2017 - 07:56 — will

I remember growing up and in my home my family would frequently encounter the difficulties or annoyances of life and remark, "if only someone would invent a thing to". Sometimes we wished for straight up science fiction but most of the time we wished for things that, with some effort, could be made to happen.

Most people would say that the 80s and 90s were marked with the rapid introduction of computer technology. But I'd argue that it was also marked with total stagnation in just about every single already mature industry, particularly for end users.

We were in no position to make things happen, but we hoped someone would. And nobody did, at least, not for a while. But that's changed. There are hundreds or thousands of startups tackling every aspect of life now and it's absolutely incredible to me. We have new options and choices in our daily lives and it is interesting to know what will come.

So I think this has taken place in three stages:

Entrenched, mature industries that did not innovate

Startups and folks willing to take huge risks

The mature industries are now taking risks and innovating (or at least copying)